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Wednesday, 7 March 2012 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Current ICC World Twenty20 champion England has continued its domination of the Reliance ICC Twenty20 International (T20I) Rankings after winning its series against Pakistan by 2-1 in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
While England successfully retained its number-one position, which it could have lost had Pakistan won all the three games, Kevin Pietersen has replaced team-mate Eoin Morgan as the number-one batsman and Graeme Swann has taken over the coveted number-one bowling spot from Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka.
England, after dropping one ratings point, leads its closest rival South Africa by 10 ratings points. ICC World Twenty 2009 winner Pakistan, which could have jumped to second position had it won all the matches of the series, now stays in seventh position, 22 ratings points behind England.
Pietersen, who was the player of the tournament in the West Indies two years ago, has moved up one place to the number-one spot after scores of 33, 17 and 62 not out. For contributing 112 runs in the series, Pietersen has earned 31 ratings points.
Martin Guptill of New Zealand is the other batsman to jump in the latest rankings. The opener has vaulted 14 places to second position after scoring 151 runs in the recently concluded series against South Africa.
Richard Levi of South Africa, who clubbed the fastest T20I century by belting five fours and 13 sixes (the most sixes in a T20I to date) in a 51-ball 117, has entered in 22nd position.
In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I bowlers, Swann finished as the most successful bowler with six wickets at an economy rate of 4.16 runs per over. For this good performance, the 32-year-old bowler was been awarded 49 ratings points which has helped him leapfrog Mendis, Saeed Ajmal, Johan Botha and Shahid Afridi into the top spot.
Other bowlers to storm up the chart include Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan, who has vaulted five places to seventh spot, England?s T20I captain Stuart Broad, who is in 12th spot after rising five places, Pakistan?s Umar Gul has claimed three places and is now in 15th position and Jade Dernbach of England who has moved up 15 places to 30th spot after picking up four wickets in the series.
In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I all-rounders, Australia team-mates Shane Watson and David Hussey share the number-one spot while JP Duminy of South Africa has broken into the top 10 for the first time after rising nine places following a decent performance against New Zealand.
